Not A Moment Too Soon
by GoodCompletedTwiFic
Summary: Draco visits Ginny in the hospital.


**Title**:  Not A Moment Too Soon

**Category:  **Romance/General

**Rating**:  G/PG

**Summary**:  Draco is with Ginny at the hospital, and he reflects on how he has changed.  

**Spoilers**:  Books 1-5 (just a tiny mention of Book 5)

**Dedication**:  To my wonderful friend Donna, who is the reason I'm so obsessed to begin with.

**Author's Notes**:  This is my first ever HP fanfic, and I'll admit I'm a little nervous.  I've been reading everything for weeks and there are some amazing writers out there.  I'm not sure why I latched onto Draco/Ginny like I did, but I think I fell in love with them while reading Cassandra Claire's Draco Trilogy.  I haven't been able to function properly since.  The title is taken from the Tim McGraw album of the same name, "Not a Moment Too Soon."  I've been listening to it in my car nonstop, as the ideas for this story started to form.  It's unbetaed, so any mistakes in spelling/grammar/punctuation are strictly mine.  If you would be so kind as to leave some sort of review, I would like to know what the readers think.  I believe this fic will probably determine my future in the HP world.  

***~*~*~***

For the first time in his life, Draco Malfoy realized how much he didn't like the colour white.  As he looked around the hospital room, the whiteness of it all greeted him.  White walls.   White floor.  White sheets.  Even Ginny was wearing a white gown.  The only bit of colour in the room was himself (and he certainly wasn't used to that) and the Weasley hair.  

It was all very… strange.  

The Malfoy heir looked back down at Ginny Weasley and sighed.  He could almost convince himself she was sleeping.  But not quite.  The only sign she was really alive at all was the shallow rise and fall of her chest.  Ginny had been like this for over a week now.  She'd been in this room eight days, fourteen hours, and he checked his watch, twenty-three minutes.  And not once had she woken up.  

"C'mon, Gin, wake up."  Draco reached out and pushed a strand of hair away from her eyes.  Even her hair changed, he noted.  It was like the life force was slowly draining out of her, and he was made to watch.  Draco hated it.  

Being a Malfoy, he wanted to throw down in the middle of the hospital room, kicking and screaming until she woke up.  Draco wanted to yell at her, call her a 'Muggle lover' and 'little weasel' and all of the other things she hated.  He wanted to do anything he could to make her open those brown eyes and glare at him.  

It wasn't _fair_.  **He** should be the one in the hospital bed, **he** should be the one with a hole in his side from his psychotic father, and **he **should be the one fighting for his life.  But he wasn't.  Instead, it was Virginia.  

Virginia, who showed up at the last minute, went snooping when he'd told her to stay inside, and got herself shot.  She'd been as surprised as he was when his father pulled the gun.  Draco wasn't sure what the silver handheld object was supposed to do, but from the gasp Ginny gave, he was sure she knew.  She knew and she jumped in front of him anyway.  

As they waited for help (Harry had promised to send back reinforcements), he'd held her hand and tried to keep her awake.  Her breathing had shallowed until it was almost non-existent, and Draco knew with each breathe life was slowly draining out of her.  He'd whispered, "Stay with me.  Don't you dare leave me," until she finally opened her eyes and smiled.  Ginny then lifted her hand to his face, and pushed his silver-blonde hair out of his eyes.  "Draco," she'd sighed.  "I love you."  

And that was the last thing she'd said.

 _I love you._  

**I love you.**  

She loved him. 

Him, Draco Malfoy, who had never been loved by anyone but his mother his entire life.  And his mother was required to love him, wasn't she?  

Draco sighed again, and willed away the tears he could feel just behind his eyelids.  He hadn't cried since he was eight years old and his father had taken his favorite horse and sold it.  Looking back, Draco knew it was a silly thing to cry over.  But, Lucius Malfoy taught him a lesson that day.  To care was to lose.  So if Draco never cared, he'd never lose.  

It was all working out fine until _she_ walked in.  

He could remember the very first time he met Ginny, in the bookstore, one afternoon.  The idiot Gilderoy Lockhart was there, selling his books, and Ginny had been following Harry bloody Potter around like a little lost puppy.  It made his stomach turn over.  The second meeting wasn't any better.  Draco had embarrassed her in front of the entire school, and she looked so hurt.  Embarrassed, but hurt.  After that, Draco had decided he'd just leave her alone.  

Of course, he knew about the Chamber of Secrets and Tom Riddle's diary.  His father had been bragging with his Death Eater friends one night, and Draco had found himself feeling anger towards his father for he'd done.  

Sure, she was a Weasley… but she wasn't like her idiot brothers.  Draco didn't know the older two, but any experience he'd had with Percy, the twins, and the insufferable prat Ron, was enough.  But she… she was different.  Better, almost.  No, not almost.  Ginny _was_ better.  

"Is," he corrected himself.  Draco leaned forward and took her hand, silently willing her to wake up.  "You are better than your brothers, Ginny."  

The first time he'd told her that, she'd laughed.  He'd been a fifth year, and he'd found her in the hall one day.  At the time, Draco hadn't known she was sitting there waiting to warn the others who were breaking-and-entering.  Something made him stop and watch her.  Talk to her, even.  It wasn't the usual name-calling bit Draco used to entertain himself, normally.  No, it was conversation.  Real conversation.  He'd said something to make her laugh, and at that moment he didn't know how he'd lived his entire life without seeing her smile.  

A few weeks later was the battle at the Ministry, where his father had been captured.  Now it was Draco's turn to be hurt and embarrassed.  All of it turned to anger directed at Potter and his friends.  It had taken his mother three days to get rid of the hexes they'd put on him on the Hogwarts Express.  Draco knew he'd deserved it, even though he'd never admit it to Potter.  

"I was such a ruddy toad back then, you know?"  Draco looked down and smiled softly at her.  "You look like an angel when you sleep, Miss Weasley."  

Draco stood then, to stretch his legs.  He glared at the stupid plastic hospital chair, wanting to kick it.  Didn't this hospital know that _Malfoy's_ didn't sit in plastic chairs, or drink for paper cups, or even sleep on cots?  He turned to glare at his makeshift bed and wanted to kick it too.  Of course they didn't know, because it was a Muggle hospital.  They had no idea what the name Malfoy meant, how much money and power was connected to it, they only knew he was a young man who refused to leave the side of an even younger girl.  

He stopped mid-pace and glared at her.  It was her fault, really.  No one told her to follow him.  No one told her to jump in front of him.  And even worse, no one told her to _love_ him.  Yet, Ginny had done all of those things anyway.  Which meant more to him than he could ever express.  

Draco sat at the foot of the bed this time.  He uncovered her feet and stared.  She even had freckles on her toes, and that made him laugh.  It was the kind of laughter that made him double over from the pain, gasping for breath.  Fat teardrops rolled out of his eyes, until he couldn't see he was crying to hard.  Gently, he stretched his large body out next to hers.  Draco tossed an arm across her waist, and buried his face in her hair.  He cried for a long time.  Not the full-body sobs from before, but soft tears that leaked from his eyes onto her pillow.  They were tears of emptiness.  Tears of pain and suffering.  Mostly, they were tears full of love.  

Sometime later, Draco reached up and dried his eyes.  But he didn't move from the bed.  He continued to lay there, his body gently wrapped around hers.  Holding her, touching her, whispering his love for her in her ear.  Somewhere inside, Draco hoped she could hear him.  

"You know," he started, "my sixth year was when it all changed.  At Christmas of my fifth year, my father owled me and said I'd be receiving the Dark Mark that summer.  I was a stupid prat then, and I was looking forward to entering into service of the Dark Lord.  All my life, I was brought up to serve him, so in a way I felt as if I might be fulfilling my purpose.

"Then father went and got himself arrested.  I think that's when it changed for me.  My mother arrived in a carriage at the train station, with two servants to help carry my trunks.  She looked different, I knew from the start, but it wasn't until much later that I realized why.  When she'd seen me, she only sighed and said 'Oh Draco' before she wrapped me in a hug.  Potter and his friends had been hexing me at the end of the year for a few years by then, so I guess she was used to seeing it.  I never realized that part of her hoped I'd stop the hexing myself.  Not by hexing them in return, but by working out a friendship with them.  

"It was the during the summer that I saw the differences.  My mother, for the first time I could remember, was happy.  She was carefree and loving.  She'd smile and laugh easily, and I'd never seen her do it before.  Sometime in mid-June I realized it was because my father was gone.  She didn't have to fear being yelled at, or worse yet, beat because she was doing something that might offend him.  That summer, I felt something inside of me shift.  Some loyalty, shifted away from my father and his friends, to the side of the Cause.  If my father being locked up could bring her this much joy, I couldn't help but wonder how she would react if the dark side were brought down completely.  I wanted to give her that."  

Draco looked up when he heard the hospital door open.  Inwardly he groaned at who it was.  "Weasley."  

Ron narrowed his eyes.  "What're you doing with your arms around my sister?" he asked through gritted teeth.  "Even better, why are you in the _bed_ with her?"

"From what I gather, she rather enjoys our time together."  Sorry, Virginia, he immediately thought.  It was just too much fun playing with Ron's mind.  

At that moment, Draco was glad when Harry Potter stepped through the hospital door.  He was just in time to grab the back of Ron's shirt before he started towards the bed.  "Ron," he said softly, "now isn't the time."  

Ron glared at his friend.  "He's in the bed with my sister!"  

Harry turned to look at Draco then.  Ron was right; he was in the bed with Ginny.  But from what he could see the youngest Weasley was also unconscious.  "You know they're friends."  

"Friends?" Ron asked.  "Friends!  I don't care if they're _friends_, Harry.  He's **in the bed** with my sister!"

"Ron, calm down," Harry tried.  It was moments like this he wished Hermione was with them.  She could calm the Weasley temper in two-minutes-flat without even trying.  But his wife was helping Dumbledore, and he was here trying to calm Ron.  "It's not what you think, I'm sure.  She's… Ron, I'm not even sure if she's conscious."  

Ron's eyes widened as he turned to look at her.  "What did you do to her?" he asked.  Breaking away from Harry, he went to the other side of the bed.  For the first time, he really saw Ginny and realized how grave the situation was.  "Wh-what happened?"  

It was Draco who told the story.

_"Stay here," Draco told her.  He pushed Ginny as far back into the library as possible, between stacks and stacks of books.  "I don't want you hurt."  _

_"Draco­–"  _

_He placed a finger over her mouth.  "Stay."  Draco smiled when she kissed the finger.  "Promise me you'll stay?"  _

_"I…I can't.  If you're hurt, if something goes wrong…"  _

_"It's just my father, Gin."  _

_She sighed.  "That's what scares me."  _

_"Don't be scared for me, Virginia.  _

_"Draco, I–"  _

_"Shhh."  He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead.  "When this is finished," he whispered, "I want to marry you."  _

_"What?"  _

_"Marry me, Gin?"  _

_"You… you don't mean it," she said softly.  "You don't…"  _

_Draco smiled.  "I do."  He reached down and tugged the Malfoy family crest off his left hand and pressed it into her palm.  Draco closed her fist around it and smiled.  "Stay here, okay?  I'll come back for you."  _

_Ginny nodded._

"You're engaged?" Ron asked.  He looked down at his sister's right hand and noticed the ring.  The diamonds across the top were in the shape of a serpent, with a 'M' on each side.  "She said yes?" 

"Is that so hard to believe?" Draco snapped.  "I love her, she loves me.  Really, Weasley, has no one ever explained this to you?"  

It was Harry who spoke up.  "If you left her in the library how'd she end up with a bullet hole in her side, Malfoy?"  

"She followed me," he said solemnly.  

_"Look around you, Draco, are you ready to give up your entire life?" his father demanded.  "All of the riches, all of the fame.  You're a _Malfoy_ boy, you don't get to walk away from it all."  _

_"You're wrong," Draco answered.  "If I want to walk away, I get to.  You can't _make_ me stay."  _

_"But I can," Lucius told him.  "But I can."  _

_That's when Draco noticed the small silver object his father was holding.  "What's that?"  _

_Lucius smiled then.  It was cold and calculated.  "It's one of my favorite Muggle inventions.  Every year, tens of thousands of Muggles die from these, yet almost anyone can buy one.  Even an old wizard who doesn't really exist in the Muggle world.  It was so _easy_ Draco."  _

_"What are you going to do with it?"  _

_"I'm going to kill you, of course."  _

_Draco's eyes widened.  "Why not the killing curse, then?"  _

_Lucius' eyes danced with amusement.  "Because this will hurt a hell of a lot more."  _

_"Father–"  _

_"Don't father me," Lucius interrupted.  "My son is dead."  _

_Draco watched, as if paralyzed, as his father lifted the gun and pointed it at his heart.  "This will hurt," he whispered and Draco watched as his finger flexed around the trigger a second before he pulled it.  _

_That's when Ginny jumped in front of him.  _

"What happened then?"  

"I found them," Harry answered.  "I recognized the sounds of the gun… and I found them in the dungeons, outside of Snape's classroom.  Ginny was still conscious then, and she was talking to Malfoy.  I was behind Lucius, so I was able to bind him and float him to Professor Dumbledore's office.  When I returned, Snape and McGonagall were with them."  

Ron sank into the plastic chair Draco had vacated earlier.  He reached out and took his sister's hand, the reality of it all sinking in.  

"Why isn't she awake?" Ron asked quietly.  

"The bullet shattered three ribs and her right lung collapsed.  Madam Comfrey brought her here, and said the Muggles would be better able to take care of her.  She's been in surgery twice, but she's stable now."  Draco looked down at the sleeping girl.  "She just hasn't woken up yet."  

Ron accepted his answer.  "Will she?"  

Draco shrugged.  "I don't know.  They don't know.  We can only wait."  

"So that's what you're doing?  Waiting?"  

Draco nodded.  "I haven't left this room in eight days, Weasley.  I've been here as your mother and father visited, when each of your annoying brothers came in, while the Mud—" he stopped when he saw Potter flinch, "while Granger was here.  And now it's you, Weasley.  I'm not leaving," he announced.  "And you can't make me."  

Ron rolled his eyes.  "You sound like such a spoiled brat."  

Draco smirked.  "I'm a Malfoy, what do you expect?"  

"Do you love her?" Ginny's brother asked quietly.  

"W-what?"  

"It's simple.  Do you love her?"  

Draco looked down at the still girl and smiled.  "I do."  

"Then after she wakes up, my brothers and I will be expecting a visit."  

Draco's head shot up.  "_What_?"  

Ron glared.  "You told her you were going to marry her, and when she wakes up, you will."  

"Of course I will!" Draco shouted.  "That wasn't something I was just saying."  

"You're going to do it proper, too," Ron told him.  "You will come to the Burrow and ask our father, my brothers, and myself for her hand in marriage.  And the wedding will have to wait until after she graduates.  She still has two months of Hogwarts left."  

He couldn't believe it!  He couldn't believe this… _Weasley_ was sitting here telling him when he could or could not marry Virginia!  Draco just… "Fine," he said through gritted teeth.  "I want you to leave.  Now."  

Harry must have thought it was a good idea, too.  He reached out and put an arm on Ron's shoulder, gently pulling him away.  "Let's leave them alone.  We'll come back later."  Ron allowed himself to be pulled from the hospital room, never taking his eyes from Draco.  

The silver-headed boy muttered a soft incantation and the doors shut and the lights dimmed.  He lay back down next to Ginny, his hand finding the uncovered skin of her arm and he smiled.  "I love you."  

With her wrapped tightly in his arms, Draco fell asleep.

***

_Draco.  _

_Draco._

He shifted as he felt something on his nose.  "Sleep," he muttered.  

"Draco, wake up," she called again.  

Ginny Weasley smiled when he muttered again, before burrowing deeper into the pillow.  "Draco."  

_Draco.  _

Her voice seemed to penetrate the fog he was in, and Draco slowly opened his eyes.  "Virginia?" he asked.  

"I'm here."  

He closed his eyes again, sure he was still dreaming.  "You're awake?"  

"I am."  

"Pinch me?" he asked.  

"What?" her voice was full of amusement.  "You want me to pinch you?"  

He nodded, his eyes still closed.  

Ginny smiled at him.  Reaching down, she gently pulled together the skin on his forearm and pulled.  

"Ow," he said gently.  When she looked down at him again, his gray eyes were open and he was smiling.  "Hi," Draco whispered.  

"Hello," Ginny answered him easily.  

"How long have you been awake?"  

She shrugged.  "Not long.  Where are we?"  

"In Muggle London.  A hospital."  

Her eyes widened.  "Are you hurt?"  

Draco felt his heart expand.  "No.  But you were shot."  

"Ah," she whispered.  "So that explains it."  

"Explains what?"  

"The pain in my side and the bandage covering most of my stomach."  

Draco reached over and gently pushed her back into the pillows.  He propped himself up on an elbow above her.  "Rest," he instructed.  Draco went to get out of the bed when she grabbed his wrist.  

"Don't leave me?" she asked.  

"I'll be back," he promised.  

Ginny shook her head.  "Just… stay.  For a little while?" she asked.  "I'm fine for now, Draco."  

He seemed give up his resistance, even though there wasn't much of one.  "I'll stay for now, but then we'll ring the nurse."  

"Okay."  

With her left hand, Ginny reached up and tucked his blonde hair behind his ear.  "I like it like this."  

He smiled down at her.  "I love you."  

"Draco–"  

"Shhh."  He placed a finger over her mouth.  "I love you."  

Ginny nodded then, accepting what he was saying.    
"You saved me, you know?"  He leaned over and placed a tender kiss at her hairline.  "You saved me, and I didn't even realize it.  I don't know what I would have done if I lost you."  

"You would have lived," Ginny told him.  "You would have dealt with it, and moved on."  

His silver eyes studied her, and in some ways he knew she was right.  "But I would have never been the same again."  

"Draco," she whispered, "I'm inside of you.  Just like you're inside of me.  It's the way we work.  So even if I had… died I would still be with you."  

"I would have missed you," Draco told her.  "I would have missed you every day."  

She smiled then.  "I would have missed you, too."  

Leaning down, he brushed his lips against hers.  "Stay here, love, I'll be back in a minute."  

Ginny nodded.  "Hurry, though.  I want to start planning our wedding."  

He grinned at her words.  "Okay."  

Ginny closed her eyes and heard the door gently click closed.  She felt the ring she'd slipped on her right hand days before, still in place.  A moment later the door opened again.  "That was quick."  She opened her eyes and her smile turned to a frown.  

"Did you miss me, Virginia?" Lucius Malfoy asked.  

Ginny sat up in the bed and screamed.  When she blinked, Lucius was gone.  A moment later, Draco and a team of doctors rushed in.  _It was just a dream, _she told herself.  _He wasn't really here… He wasn't.  There's just…_  "I'm fine," she answered.  

"Gin?"  

"Draco," she sighed.  "Leave it alone."  

It was the look in her eyes that finally got to him.  Silently, he nodded.  "Are you okay?"  

Ginny shook her head as tears began to leak from her eyes.  "I… I want to go home, Draco.  Will you take me home?"  

"Soon," he whispered.  When the doctors finally left a few minutes later, apparently satisfied with her recent recovery, Draco climbed in the bed with her again.  She went into his arms and her grip around his neck tightened.  He wanted to know what was wrong, but couldn't bring himself to press the issue.  She'd tell him, he knew.  When she was ready, Draco knew Ginny would tell him.  He pressed a kiss to her neck.  "You saved me, Virginia.  In my darkest hour, it was you who saved me.  And it wasn't a moment too soon."  

She mumbled something, but Draco wasn't sure what she said.  Instead, he just tightened his grip on her and willed himself to sleep again. 


End file.
